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Monday, 9 January 2012

It’s dangerous to be a student in Mexico

Mexico is a young country. Usually, that is cause for optimism. But Mexico's youth is being used as
fodder for a brutal drug war, caught between the cartels and the state’s repressive response. Being a student provides little cover.

Readers of this blog have been following the story of the
normal (teacher’s college) students in Guerrero, two of whom were shot dead on
December 12th. Whatever one thinks of their cause, one thing is
certain: they were unarmed, and did not deserve to be shot in cold blood by the
police.

Now, if only the Associated Press (AP) would retract the
story by Mark Stevenson, "Mexican police:
Weapons found at protest site", we could make some headway (Google it,
if you want to see how much damage misinformation can do).

In fact, perhaps the AP should ask the Mexican authorities
for an explanation, and be less hasty in the future to file stories from such
suspect sources. This includes the accusation of gasoline bombs, given that the
fire at the gas station during the demonstration caused
the death of the attendant, Gonzalo Rivas Camara, and may have been used as
a pretext to open fire.

As we know
now, one of the students, Gerardo Torres Pérez, was tortured and then framed
by the police. He was stripped, beaten in the ribs, and forced to say that he
was carrying an AK-47 at the demonstration.

And why an AK-47? Because, as the police told AP, that is
what the drug gangs use, and not the cops. So, students at a teachers college
that is part of a long, agrarian/socialist tradition in Mexico, and that are troublemakers
to many, could now be painted as truly dangerous criminals.

They are growing up in a dangerous world

Meanwhile, if students aren’t being killed by the police,
they are being taken out by the drug gangs themselves. On the afternoon of Monday
January 9th three young men, apparently students at the Colegio de
Bachilleres de Ecuandureo, were killed in a park in Yurécuaro,
Michoacan, only a few meters from the border with the state of Jalisco.

The three men died at 3:40 p.m. as they were
sitting in a small park near the Aurrerá grocery store on the outskirts of
Yurécuaro. This is only steps away from the bridge that leads to the
municipality of La
Rivera, Jalisco.

This appears to have been a targeted assassination. The young
men, who were between the ages of 18 and 21, were shot to death by a group of
men armed with assault rifles and other large calibre weapons.

At first, reports said that there was a shootout. But now it
appears that the three students were unarmed. They were not "Ni-Nis" - those young Mexicans without work or study who often get drawn into crime.

As well, on Monday, January 9, students from Tecnológico de
Monterrey (ITESM) protested during a visit by president Felipe Calderon to
the northern city of Monterrey. They wanted clarification regarding the death
of two students, which occurred during a clash with soldiers in March, 2010.

During the peaceful protest the students placed two candy
skulls to represent the deceased. The two memorialized students, who had been
attending ITESM on a scholarship, were shot to death at the entrance of their
school, on CalleLuisElizondo, early in the morning of March 18, 2010. They
were caught in the crossfire between the military and a drug gang.

There was a certain irony to the protest. Inside the school the
president was promoting a student loan program that will benefit 23,000 graduate
and undergraduate students. The beneficiaries ofthe program willpay afixed interestrateof
10% at 15 years, six months aftercompleting their studies.

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Podcast: Notes From The Underground

In the podcast Notes From The Underground TE Wilson discusses historical and contemporary attitudes toward crime. Each episode features a one-on-one interview that explores a unique topic. Interviewees include authors, experts, and individuals with personal experiences of crime. These podcasts were originally broadcast through the facilities of Trent Radio in Peterborough, Canada.

Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel

Bicultural and transgender, detective Ernesto Sánchez seeks a missing Canadian woman on Mexico’s Pacific coast. Moving uneasily in a world where benign tourism co-exists with extreme violence, he becomes a pawn in a shadowy power-play between corrupt police and drug cartels. Forced to make hard choices – desperate, wounded, and friendless – Sánchez takes refuge in the lawless mountains of Oaxaca. And discovers his fate.

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“T.E. Wilson has crafted a terrific, terrifying and yet sensationally witty portrait of modern Mexico. Detective Sánchez is irresistible. You won’t soon forget his journey through that unpredictable jungle that is Mexico today.”